Cancer-hit Jade Goody visits boyfriend Jack in prison for the first time

Monday 1 September 2008 12:05 BST

A tearful Jade Goody was seen visiting her incarcerated boyfriend Jack Tweed in Chelmsford Prison for the first time yesterday.

But clearly the strain of dealing with the news of her cancer diagnosis, and Jack's unexpected conviction on Monday, is taking its toll, as a visibly upset Jade could be seen crying in the car park of a supermarket.

Jade left her Essex home in the morning with a handful of supplies for Jack, 21, including after-shave, and a razor.

Jade Goody arrives at Chelmsford Prison yesterday (l) to visit her boyfriend Jack Tweed (r) who was jailed for 18 months for assault on Monday

After the judge rejected her mercy plea to spare Jack a prison sentence, she sobbed: 'This couldn't have come at a worse time'.

Even by the standards of her soap opera life, Monday was a dreadful day for Jade Goody.

Hours after the reality TV star made her first live television appearance since being diagnosed with cervical cancer, her on/off boyfriend was jailed for attacking a teenager with a golf club.

On Tuesday, the Big Brother star was seen weeping in a car park as she went to the supermarket with Jack's mother.

And she told a friend: 'This couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm in bits. I'm devastated. Jack is my rock.'

Jack incarcerated: Jade makes her first visit to see on/off boyfriend Tweed, along with his mother, at Chelmsford Prison yesterday

Jack incarcerated: Jade makes her first visit to see on/off boyfriend Tweed, along with his mother, at Chelmsford Prison yesterday

Visiting hours: Jack's incarceration have added to the Big Brother star's woes after she was recently diagnosed with cancer

Visiting hours: Jack's incarceration have added to the Big Brother star's woes after she was recently diagnosed with cancer

Jack used Miss Goody's battle with cancer to argue he should escape prison.

He pleaded with the judge through his barrister that he was needed to help nurse Miss Goody through the life-threatening illness.

Miss Goody even wrote a letter to the judge asking him not to lock him up, although she did not attend.

But Tweed was given an 18-month jail term after Recorder Mark Lucraft QC said the attack - in which a teenager was headbutted twice and hit so hard with a golf club that the head fell off - was so serious it warranted custody.

Supplies: Jade leaving her Essex home with what looks like clippers, aftershave and a razor in her hand

Supplies: Jade leaving her Essex home with what looks like clippers, aftershave and a razor in her hand

Distressed: Jade broke down in tears in a supermarket car park as the dual strain of her cancer diagnosis and Jack's incarceration takes its toll

Distressed: Jade broke down in tears in a supermarket car park as the dual strain of her cancer diagnosis and Jack's incarceration takes its toll

'Daniel Steele was on the receiving end of what your counsel called a "good hiding",' he said.

'Hitting someone about the head with a weapon is an extremely dangerous thing to do.'

The model had denied actual bodily harm against Mr Steele but was found guilty in July following a trial.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how he and his former neighbour, James Mattock, 29, had been shouted at by a group of youths as they visited a Chinese takeaway near Mattock's home in Chipping Ongar, Essex, on the night of December 20, 2006.

The prosecution claimed the pair 'decided to teach them a lesson' and that Tweed may have felt 'invincible' because of his celebrity status.

Boyfriend Jack was sentenced to 18 months in jail, despite pleas that he was needed by Jade to help her through her cancer treatment

Mr Steele, 18, was sitting with friends when Tweed and Mattock came over wielding golf clubs.

'They threw a bottle over at us. It smashed,' he said.

'They said "Send the fat one and the lairy one over, tell them to bring their tools and they'll get what they deserve".

'He came towards me and started hitting me. The head came off the golf club and he said "Get on the floor and I'll stab you with it".

'He grabbed me and went to stick it in my leg but I moved out of the way. It tore my trouser and grazed my leg.'

Mr Steele added he was hit up to 15 times with the golf club.

'He was taking proper, big swings. It hurt - it was like thud, thud, thud. He said "Say sorry" and he headbutted me,' he said.

Jail: Jack Tweed, with Jade Goody last month, was sentenced to 18 months for assaulting a teenager with a golf club

Jail: Jack Tweed, with Jade Goody last month, was sentenced to 18 months for assaulting a teenager with a golf club

Mr Steele was taken to Harlow Hospital and treated for extensive bruising across his body including his head and back.

During the trial he was accused of fabricating the evidence against Tweed for publicity.

But he denied making the attack up, said he had not approached the press and had never hurled abuse at Tweed.

During the hearing, Andre de Moller, representing Tweed, told the judge Miss Goody 'needs her man'.

'Jade Goody suffers from cervical cancer which has been recently diagnosed,' he said.

'It's advanced and it's life-threatening. She is due to undergo an operation in two weeks time and is likely to be on chemotherapy.

'Jack Tweed lives with her. He supports her. He was the pater familias of the family and a responsible young man.

'It's plain, your honour, that his lady has a long road ahead of pain and distress. She is a mother of two young children and she does need her man to help her.'

Mattock, who also denied ABH, was also jailed for 18 months. The maximum sentence for the crime is five years.

Fight of her life: Jade Goody on GMTV on Monday

Miss Goody, 27, who recently moved to Upshire in Essex, learned she had a tumour in her cervix while appearing in the Indian version of Big Brother last month.

On Monday morning, she told GMTV that doctors initially gave her the all clear, and sent her away with just pain killers for period pain.

She said that her symptoms were initially dismissed: 'I was in hospital for a week, and they didn't do anything because they didn't know what it was, even though it was the fourth time I had been there for the same reason.

'They did a belly scan and everything was fine, even my blood, so they said to me it was either a bad period or stress.'

'In the end I began to feel really frustrated, like they were insulting my intelligence, I thought they thought I was being a hypochondriac and lying about it.

'I made a conscious effort to tell them that I was going away for a long period of time and they wouldn't be able to get in touch, and would that be OK. They said I was fine and I was fit and healthy.'

Tears: Jade was told she had cancer in the Indian Big Brother house, but now claims she wasn't aware the conversation was being filmed

Tears: Jade was told she had cancer in the Indian Big Brother house, but now claims she wasn't aware the conversation was being filmed

But Miss Goody later received the bombshell news in the Diary Room of the Indian version of the reality show that she had cancer, and found out that it had spread.

'They previously told me it wasn't serious - 1B, and they also said to me that I needed to wait a week for an MRI scan. But in that same day they called me and said they had space for an MRI scan - I think they were worried so they were backtracking.

'In the mean time I was talking to a private doctor. I told her all my symptoms - she hadn't even seen me - and straight away she said this has been here for a long time. It was a case of being 2B+ - it's gone out of the womb and into the blood stream now.

'I've got to go tomorrow to find out what treatment I need. The doctor's told me over the phone, but he wants to sit me down and tell me step by step because it's quite sensitive.

'My first thought was cancer, chemo, death, because that's all I know of it.

'I didn't know it was being filmed either, and that conversation I was having was actually to my agent, it wasn't to my doctor.'

' wanted me to go out and tell everybody. I was like, "I can’t do that, I need my family and friends to know before I just randomly say it on television."'

'And it was really horrible, it was really, really hard because I had no one, at that time when you found out all you want is a cuddle or something, and I had nothing.'

The 27-year-old star, who now faces having a hysterectomy because of the disease, explained how she now feels strong enough to fight for her life, and how the blow has brought her closer to her two sons Bobby, five, and three-year-old Freddie.

She said: 'My mum looked after the boys when I first found out because I wasn't physically strong enough - I was breaking down all the time.

'Don't get me wrong, I'm not made of iron, I still break down, but I'm a lot stronger now.

'I realise that when I'm with my boys - I've spent the whole week away with them doing things like rock climbing which I wouldn't ever normally do. It makes me smile and it makes me forget for a bit.'

Miss Goody was rumoured to be making a reality TV show documenting her battle with the disease, but the star dismissed the claims.

She said: 'I'm not doing a TV show out of this. I was filming before and it all finished when I went to India.

'I would never do that, it's something that I need to go through on my own and get strong.'